Creating Animations in Maya. Rendering. Computer dies again.
After we have designed and created our project, added animations and all the elements we wanted to include into it, it is time to make it into a 3D animation.
At first, we need to decide on which camera we want to render. The process of choosing which camera we want to look through is known as animation framing.
We have already been introduced to basic information about types of camera shots and different angles in film and animation. We can introduce some of them into our Holiday projects.
Next, it was time for setting up rendering sequences. We started with Render settings. Adding a file name, choosing the right image format (PNG for our final projects), deciding on the frame extension, selecting the right camera and image size are some of the most important options we must adjust in the “Common” section. We then modified “Arnold Renderer” and “System Settings”. All that to achieve correct results.
Next, we had to make sure that in the “Arnold Render View” we have selected the right camera – the one that we had decided to use (it is worth to double check it).
To start rendering we went to the “Render” menu and selected “Render Sequences”, where once again we had to make sure that we have picked the right camera. If everything was set correctly, we could start the process.
As a result, we would have images in the number of frames of our animation. Each image is a single frame. While setting up we can decide to render every other frame to speed up the process. It is acceptable, but it won’t create a flawless animation.
Speaking of the process of rendering, it sadly made my laptop crashed. I set up my little Museum assignment counting 120 frames to be rendered overnight and unfortunately my computer didn’t handle it.
It sucked on a frame 87 and then simply turned off. I had started to render mentioned scene on Thursday night at 21:25 and the incident happened at 7:42 on a Friday morning. I was shocked that all night wasn’t enough to render 120 frames. At the same time devastated that there were issues with my laptop again!
Luckily, I had managed to turn it on and sent rendered images to my Google Cloud account. I did the same with my Holiday destination project. While I was uploading other important files to the cloud, the laptop turned off again. This time for good.
That means that I don’t have a computer with Maya installed to carry on with my project work, and almost all my data will be lost.
I am frustrated by the situation. Especially that we are not allowed to work in LCC’s labs, where we would normally have access to powerful computers and all the infrastructure appropriate for our university VR course. In non-covid times it would be much easier, technical difficulties wouldn’t be that hard to overcome.
While I’m waiting for my laptop to be diagnosed and hopefully fixed (I can’t afford to buy a new one as I am paying a huge amount of money for my degree and it is a big financial stretch already), I need to focus on documenting the work I have done so far in Maya.
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Important update. It looks like a new hard drive for my laptop may fix it. It however means losing all data and waiting until Monday to have it potentially repaired. Yet, there is a hope, a light in a tunnel.